BAIL FOR SUSPECT IN SCAM LOWERED TO $50K

Judge gives Pedrino, who has cited health problems, an incentive to attend hearings

A Riverside judge Wednesday reduced to $50,000 the bail of Helen Pedrino, the 61-year-old Stonewood scam defendant who missed a pair of court hearings last month during a five-day journey to three hospitals that was triggered, she said, by chest pain and high blood pressure.

Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Prevost previously set bail at $500,000 at the time a warrant was issued for her arrest. Pedrino failed to show for hearings Feb. 22 and 25. On the earlier date, she and her son, Hendrix Montecastro, were due to begin laying out their case.

The two do not have attorneys and are representing themselves against charges they fraudulently bilked 34 victims out of $3.6 million in homes and life savings as part of the Stonewood mortgage investment scheme that rocked Southwest County at the height of last decade’s housing boom.

“Your honor, I am not a flight risk,” Pedrino said, in asking Prevost to release her from county jail. “I may have fallen ill, your honor, but you know where I was.”

Chief Deputy District Attorney Vicki Hightower objected, saying Pedrino “willfully” missed the hearings and that records of the hospital visits show nothing to justify her absences.

The judge said it was “hard to say” whether there was a risk Pedrino would flee, with the monthslong trial winding down.

“I’m not prepared to release you on your own recognizance,” Prevost said. “I am prepared to give you a shot at making bail.”

After reducing bail to $50,000, the judge ordered Pedrino not to leave California and not to make medical appointments except in “extreme emergency.”

As an added incentive to avoid fleeing, the judge told Pedrino that, if she is convicted, she may be a candidate for probation. Prevost said probation would not be a sentencing option were she to miss another hearing.

The case was expected to go to the jury soon, with closing arguments expected to conclude Thursday morning.

Hightower called more than 50 witnesses during the monthslong trial, while the defense called one.

Montecastro indicated last week that he wouldn’t put anyone else on the stand, and he formally wrapped up his case Wednesday before the jury.

When the judge asked him if he had finished presenting his case, Montecastro said, “I have to forgo any witnesses, sir, because my mom was arrested in the hospital.” He said Pedrino was hospitalized with “strokelike symptoms.”

In connection with the $3.6 million in losses to 34 people, Montecastro faces 317 felony charges and Pedrino faces 41.

Montecastro appears to be laying the foundation for a possible appeal. After he and his mother decided earlier to represent themselves, in the past couple of weeks he has been asking for an attorney, saying he is confused by legal terminology. The judge said last week a lawyer appointment at this juncture would cause an unnecessary, significant delay.

Montecastro asked again Wednesday, as the two sides sparred over instructions to be delivered to the jury.

“I asked for an attorney, I was refused an attorney — more than a dozen times,” Montecastro said. “I don’t understand.”

The Stonewood scheme is believed to have caused total losses exceeding $140 million, most of it to banks and financial institutions. Nearly 400 homeowners lost a combined $30 million.